by Claire Bott | Apr 7, 2018 | News
Alaska’s House of Representatives has passed a bill which sets the state’s annual PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend) at approximately $1,600 per person next year, an amount which has been confirmed after a hard-fought legislative battle over the size of the payment.
The PFD, which is funded largely out of oil revenues, has been reduced for the past couple of years due to low oil prices. In 2016, the payment, which had previously risen to about $2000 in 2015, was cut to approximately $1000.
In late March of this year, the Alaskan House of Representatives voted 21-19 to provide a dividend of about $2,700 per person, but after much debate this was reduced to the current figure of $1,600.
The bill will now go to Alaska’s Senate for further consideration.
Edited by: Dawn Howard
by Claire Bott | Sep 5, 2017 | News
Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and activist organisation, has released a policy paper suggesting that universal basic income (UBI) could be the best option for an independent Scotland.
Dr Craig Dalzell, the Head of Research for Common Weal, argues that “the anxiety and stress caused by the pressure to conform to the constantly shifting rules around claiming welfare can itself have deleterious effects on the health and well-being of citizens,” and goes on to conclude that UBI “provides a powerful means of enacting the kind of wealth redistribution which promotes the kind of fairer, more equitable society which has been shown to best fulfil the needs of the greatest number of citizens.”
Dr Dalzell states that, as an independent Scotland would have to organise its own welfare system in any case, this would provide an opportunity to move to a different and more equitable means of providing welfare. He also argues that, by using UBI to replace current means-tested benefits, it would be possible to introduce basic income in Scotland without a significant level of increased taxation.
The question of whether Scotland will become independent from Britain is one that has come up a number of times in recent years, most notably in the Scottish referendum which took place in 2014. While this ended in a narrow victory for those who wanted to remain with Britain, the current plans for Britain’s exit from the EU have meant that the issue has arisen again, as the vast majority of Scots voted to stay in the EU. While there are no current plans for immediate Scottish independence, there are many who argue that it must take place eventually, particularly if Britain goes ahead with EU withdrawal.
More information at:
Craig Dalzell, “Social Security For All Of Us”, August 2017
by Michael Keith | Aug 6, 2017 | News
Several Western and European countries have been seriously considering Universal Basic Income recently. Numerous countries already have social programs that supplement individual incomes for select groups, such as unemployment compensation, food stamps, or housing income, but none have a program involving basic income for every individual.
The think tank NABNI (French acronym for “Our Algeria Built on New Ideas”) laid out the case for a national basic income, administered monthly, in the North African country Algeria. According to the Algerian daily news site, El Watan, the proposed monthly income would be 60 euros, approximately one-third of a full-time minimum wage salary in Algeria.
In making their case for a Universal Basic Income, NABNI argues that de-industrialization is not just a Western problem; it is also hitting countries like Algeria, which must adapt its economy to expand the service sector and decrease reliance on heavy industry and agriculture, as the French daily Les Echos notes.
According to NABNI, one advantage of a universal basic income would be its ability to simplify the complex existing social programs in Algeria into one program that would distribute the funds without the need for burdensome qualification processes. In doing so, it would reduce the bureaucratic resources involved in implementing the program and make more funds available for the program itself.
In an article on the NABNI proposal, World Crunch cites some logistical challenges that will require attention. For example, the article notes that “first, they have to solve the issue of low access to banking facilities: in Algeria, only half of the population has a bank account.” The authors also point out that determining the amount of the basic income will require care, as it must be enough to be effective, but not too much that it will drive inflation.
Thanks to Kate McFarland for reviewing the article.
by Cameron McLeod | Apr 28, 2017 | News
Charles Eisenstein is a degrowth activist, speaker and author of several books including “Sacred Economics,” and “The Ascent of Humanity” (some of which are available online for free), as well as a long time proponent of “alternative narratives,” political and economic ideas that challenge our current system. His work combines an interest in ecology with biology, earth healing, and the psyche. His podcast “A New and Ancient Story” airs every few weeks.
In a recent article on his personal website, Eisenstein asks, what is technology? “A fix,” Eisenstein suggests, maintaining that technology has become an addiction for our society, incapable of solving the problems we face today. “The entire scientific-industrial system has created” a “mindset of quantification, engineering, and control.” Eisenstein suggests that instead of pursuing the traditional “technology of separation” we must begin to pursue the “technology of reunion:” an expanded definition of technology. We must transcend the “story of separation” and enter instead into “the story of interbeing,” where “humans are not separate from nature,” and where “what we do to the world, we do to ourselves.”
Included in his examples of technological reunion are regenerative agriculture, homoeopathy, as well as the truth and reconciliation process. Alongside these, he places a “universal basic income (UBI) and community-based forms of resource sharing.” According to Eisenstein, the Society of Separation is sceptical of UBI, asking, “If basic needs were met, what would compel people to work?” He suggests UBI instead should be thought of as a way to support the impulse to grow and create things for the betterment of society, something Eisenstein believes one must take as given before UBI can be considered. UBI also supports “contributions that are hard to quantify,” such as lovingly raising children, caring for the elderly, or creating art and music.
UBI then fits into Eisenstein’s larger narrative of “the new and ancient Story of Interbeing”. “Some of these technologies will sound outrageous,” admits Eisenstein, who includes alongside UBI “sacred architecture; sound healing; hypnosis and mind/matter techniques; nonviolent communication; compassionate listening; sociocracy, holocracy and other group decision-making methods.” They may be difficult to take seriously because, on Eisenstein’s view, they “come from outside the boundaries of what we as a society have agreed to be real.”
For Eisenstein, UBI is a part of a new conception of technology, one of restoration rather than separation.
Article: Charles Eisenstein, “Institutes for Technologies of Reunion.” charleseisenstein.net, April 5 2017.
Credit Picture CC Taco Ekkel
by Andrew Sisk | Apr 5, 2017 | News
To the victor go the spoils. A meritocracy is a system which rewards superior skill or ability. Great wealth inequality is often defended by those who claim that winners should take all, that superior performance deserves superior gains.
But as Scott Santens writes for Futurism, the main factor in where we end up in life is where we start in life. Using the Olympic games as an analogy, Santens shows how, from wealthy parents to performance enhancing drugs, what we call meritocracy actually rewards those who are given the best chance to succeed. A UBI would make meritocracy less of a fiction, supplying everyone with a decent starting point, so that winners don’t win just because the competition lacks the basic resources needed to even play the game.
For full article:
Scott Santens, “Universal Basic Income Will Help Us Level the Economic Playing Field” (March 24, 2017)
